Fighting erupts over Sudan's western gold mines

With
the secession of South Sudan last year, Sudan has been left high and
dry without a major oil industry. As a result, many Sudanese have turned
to the lucrative practice of gold mining. This has led to increased
violence, with up to 100,000 being forced to flee after their villages
are burned to the ground.

Many refugees remain at the remote desert town of El Sireaf, which is already hosting 2,500 people displaced from the previous conflict.

Highlights

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - United Nations aid agencies are launching an emergency operation to help the thousands of displaced people in Sudan's Darfur region.

More than 100 tons of food and emergency aid was sent from El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur last week, to refugees fleeing the fighting in a remote desert area in the province's northwest.

Two Arab tribes, the Beni Hussein and the Northern Rezigat had begun fighting over rights to gold mines and levies on miners in the area.

Rebel groups in the area have lost their political backers in neighboring Chad and Libya, making them pursue new sources of income. Local tribes who once relied on government support now see funds drying up.

Amnesty International says that in spite of a government-brokered truce between the two tribes nearly three weeks ago, there are reports of continued attacks.

"We haven't seen sudden displacement on this scale for a few years. More people were displaced in a matter of days than were displaced during the twelve months of 2012," Damian Rance, spokesman for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Khartoum says.

More than two million people were displaced ten years ago and tens of thousands died in a complex conflict between armed rebel groups and government-backed militia in Darfur. About one million people remain to this day in camps in a region roughly the size of Spain.

More than 100 villages have been burned, causing people to run from their homes with their livestock, according to U.N. reports. The government estimates at least 100 people have been killed in the fighting so far.

Gold mining in the area has started as recently as March of last year. The Beni Hussein, who mostly rely on cattle herding, have controlled the awarding of artisanal mining licenses, according to a report released by Amnesty International.

The Beni Hussein community says that government border guards from the Northern Rezigat tribe were behind several attacks seeking to lay claim to the gold-mining area.

"There were clashes between the Beni Hussein and the Rezigat, but we were not involved," Colonel Khalid Swarmi, the Sudanese Armed Forces spokesman told Al Jazeera. He also denied allegations of government involvement.

Many refugees remain at the remote desert town of El Sireaf, which is already hosting 2,500 people displaced from the previous conflict. This sudden inundation of 60,000 more people has caused the local authorities to close all their schools as they desperately tried to find somewhere to house the displaced. Many remain outdoors in what the U.N. describes as "appalling conditions."

Pope Francis Prayer Intentions for March 2015
Universal: Scientists: That those involved in scientific research may serve the well-being of the whole human person.
Evangelization: Contribution of women: That the unique contribution of women to the life of the Church may be recognized always.

Comments

Suspected
of being a suicide bomber with Boko Haram, a teenage girl was beaten to
death, and then set on fire in a Nigerian vegetable market. A second
suspected teenage girl, also accused of being a suicide bomber was later
arrested at the Muda Lawal market, ... continue reading

A peace deal has been signed in Mali, potentially bringing an end to a
war which has devastated the west African nation for years. ALGIERS, ALGERIA (Catholic Online) - A representative of the Azawad independence movement, Bilal Ag Cherif, met with a representative ... continue reading

The war against the Nigerian terrorist group Boko Haram has claimed a
new front line, centering on the city of Diffa on the Nigerian border. ALGIERS, ALGERIA (Catholic Online) - The city's population continues to suffer under the Islamist group's draconian rules, and ... continue reading

An American Christian missionary in central Nigeria was kidnapped from Hope Academy, according to the website of the Free Methodist Church. LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - "Early this morning we received a report that Reverend Phyllis Sortor, our missionary in ... continue reading

A
girl thought to be as young as seven years of age killed herself and
seven others in a suicide bombing in northeast Nigeria. The bombing in
Potiskum last Sunday was the second suicide attack in or near the market
where new and second-hand phones are ... continue reading

Insecurity and fear is back in Tunisia, which had thus far managed to
avoid severe violence despite neighboring war-torn Libya, following a
terrorist attack which killed four Tunisian soldiers between the night
of February 17 and morning of the 18th. ALGIERS, ... continue reading

In this very moment, you're using the internet. Are you on a computer? If you're living in an African Country, chances are you've never even seen a computer and can only browse using a mobile device. LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - According to CNN, 70 percent of ... continue reading

If
a new historical treatise is accurate, AIDS/HIV, associated mostly with
homosexual men, did not begin in the metropolitan climes of New York
City and Paris in the 1980s, but in the Cameroonian jungles of Africa at
the turn of the century. David Quammen's ... continue reading

The
irony is totally lost to them - the hate-fueled Islamist State,
persecuting Christians, fellow Muslims, Coptics and many others, may
disallow the Nigerian terror group Boko Haram from joining forces with
them. "The Arab world is incredibly racist," ... continue reading

The
militant Islamist group Boko Haram forces seems poised to attack
Maiduguri, a city of two million in northeast Nigeria. This puts at
least 200,000 Nigerian Christians at risk of slaughter. LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - "An attack on Madiguri is very ... continue reading